Belarus upgrading military airfields and missile infrastructure – satellite imagery
Belarusian authorities have, in recent years, modernised several of their military airfields, including those from which Russia launched attacks on Ukraine in 2022, and are also expanding missile infrastructure across the country.
Source: Skhemy, a Radio Liberty project, in collaboration with the Belarusian service of Radio Liberty and Estonian media outlets Delfi Estonia and Eesti Ekspress
Details: As part of this investigation, journalists created a map of Belarusian military sites, including both entirely new and upgraded bases and training grounds. Many of these sites are expected to be used during the joint Russia-Belarus military exercises Zapad-2025, scheduled from 12 to 16 September.
Among the changes, journalists noted developments at the Belarusian Luninets airfield, located over 50 km from the Ukrainian border. In 2022, this airfield hosted more than two dozen Russian Su-25 fighter jets, Su-34 bombers, and helicopters that struck Ukraine in the opening days of the Russian full-scale invasion.
Satellite imagery from 2022-2024 shows that barracks were renovated, old hangars upgraded and new ones built, fuel storage facilities and fortifications constructed, and multiple air-defence and missile systems installed.
The airfield also became a permanent base in 2023 for a new Belarusian air-defence unit, the 56th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment.
Other airfields have also been modernised, though not on the same scale as Luninets. Hangars for fighter jets have been built, runways repaired, radar systems upgraded, and additional fortifications added, particularly around fuel storage areas at Lida (Grodno Oblast), Baranovichy (Brest Oblast), Zyabrovka (Gomel Oblast), and Machulishchy (Minsk Oblast).
Radio Liberty notes that these airfields were heavily used by the Russian military in 2022. Zyabrovka, in particular, served as a key base for Russian attack helicopters striking Ukraine at the start of the invasion.
Experts and journalists observing the satellite imagery say Belarus is reinforcing its missile infrastructure. Two military units near the central city of Asipovichy, including the 465th Missile Brigade, have been the focus of large-scale construction since early 2023.
Satellite images indicate that several Iskander-M missile systems have been deployed at the site over the past two years, with three new hangars likely constructed to house them that are visible from satellites, as the Belarusian service of Radio Liberty reports. Additional facilities include storage for military equipment and ammunition, renovated barracks and administrative buildings, and a new sports complex.
By late summer 2024, satellite imagery showed a separate railway line being laid from the 465th Missile Brigade base to the nearby 1405th Artillery Ammunition Base, considered a potential storage site for Russian nuclear weapons.
The report notes that on 25 March 2023, Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, and construction at the 1405th base in Asipovichy began almost immediately. Several old buildings, including the headquarters, have been renovated, and three new structures built, two of which are likely barracks.
Personnel numbers at the unit could reach 240, with technical areas extended and two earthen embankments built for air-defence systems, journalists report.
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